The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-06-09
rHr nTnNErARY aYsrrnn
And its Relations to Capital and Labor, aG
'rau Viewed by Mr.. A. y. Kintz.


The increase Of the earth Is the nat
ural reward of labor. What we under
stand BY labor is the clntinual effort Of
mans brains and haEds, when engaged
In any legitimate work, enterprise or
business which contributes to the good
Of society.
A road agent may stop q traveller on
the public highway, and with presented
revolver induce him TO hand over 81, 900.
The road agent has gained 81, 200; and
while he may have used the most ex.
Quisite brains combined with the most
skillful hands, yet labor. did not make
that money, the revolver made II. And
this we call robbery. Now LET us apply
this to our legal system Of money max
ing In this country. Every man that
mas risen from p0verty.tO afluence will
say the first $1,000 he made was the
hardest to make, II he made 1t by honest
labor. This then is justly and rightfu' :
ly his, and should be secured to him by
law, together with every additional
81 ,0C0 he may make in the same way or
inherit. This would be naturally right
and jHst, but with our monetary laws
when man has made his first thousand
he Is enabled with less labor to make his
second, and this power increases with
every additional $1,000 he makes and
enables hin. with the use Of money to
force from the necessities of others
what Tlghfully belongs to them and be
soon becomes q millionaire. Thus we
make millionaires by the thousand and
DAHptrs by the million. Money was In.
lrOGuced as commodity for Its conven.
ience Of exchanging commodities, and
to answer the purpose must represent
wealth. Therefore, II was necessary
for legislation to fix o value to money
This we call legal interest; but the
wrong has been In giving 1t such an ac
cumulative power, thus enabling men
others necessities and thereby rob them
Of their wealth. N#..E
Now, to show how the people Of this
country are being imposed upon by this
accumulation Of money. The actual
wealth Of the nation ls estimated to be
something over thirty billions, with an
annual increase Of 21S per cent. per an
mum. Now law fixes the legal Interest
at from to 8 per cent. per annum, 80
that the people are compelled to pay
from 30 to 80 per cent. more than they
are making, because the interest is fig.
Ured on every dollars worth Of actual
wealth and somebody pays 1t. Not only
this. but we have In this country nearly
ss much, or perhaps as much legal
wealth, spread over the country as we
have actual wealth, on which the people
are paying from to 30 per cent. When
we take into account the money Of the
country, the bonds, national and mu
Ricipal, individual notes and mOrtga.
ets, we take this to be fair estimate
And all this must be paid, If paid at all
by the labor Of the nation, because ali
legal wealth must be redeemed by &C.
tual wealth, and labor must produce 1t
Men often argue, what differs nee does
1t make to the man who never bOrrOws
money what interest Is. Just this. The
legal interest of the country regulates
the price of all rents and the use Of all
property, and regulates the price of all
commodities, 80 that whether we own
or rent we are compelled to pay or to
figure the interest on the value of the
property we use; and for everything we
eat, drink, wear or consume. The labor
of the country is compelled to pay from
81 to 519 per cent. more than 1t Is able
TO earn; simply for the purpose Of hav.
ing convenient medium Of exchange,
for which they must then pay to capital
In addition from 6 to 80 per cent. II they
are compelled to have any of II to use
If the law was to fix the legal intere I at
21s per cent. the result would be the
natural increase Of the wealth Of the
country. That would still be giving all
TO capital, and labor and business would
then as now be compelled to take Just
what capital saw fit to give
Still, that would be an improvement.
To illustrate, the man that spends 5000
q year to live, with interest at 6 Der
cent, could live just as we'll (all else
being equsD on $500, with Interest at 3
per cent, or 800 with interest at per
cent. That would be the comparative
difference In the cost of living.
But what interests the public now is
to know how all this can be remedled,
Suppose the government take charge of
the money department and Issue an
unlimited amount Of paper currency In
denominations ranging from 3 cents to
making 1t legal tender for all
debts, public and private, and letting 1t
to the people for a trifls above the cost
Of making snd distributing, Gust
enough to cover probable lOsses) letting
: on first mortgage real estate security
Il twice the value Of the money re-
ceived. Thus we would have plenty Of
cheap money based on the credit Of the
nation. The credit of the nation would
then be sustained by the actual wealth
I the nation. The government would
hen he a permanent thing, as
sYery Industrious man could then get q
home, and would take q real interest In
,he perpetustion Of the government. |
rhe government could then pay off Its |
domestic debts with its own money, and
ts foreign debts with Its gold and sill |
1er. Every man who now has mort |
gage on his home at to 8 per cent. |
'0uld then borrow from the govern
nent at 1 or Ia per cent. and pay 1t off
This money would then Immediately go
nto circulation, and all the money now
boarded up In banks and private vaults
would then 60 into circulation, as there
would be no lnducement to hold 1t.
Money could be got from the govern
nent at all times, and In all parts Of
he country, and on as long time as the
interest was regularly paid. Enterprise
you'd then stalk abroad In the land.
III vacant lands would be bought up In
mall lots and utilized, homes would be
eButified, and Idle labor would be
mployed and happy. We would
hen have a system that would
ecure the distribution Of production In
ccordance with the earnings Of labor.
BUSINESS combinations, trades unions,
ab0r organizations and anarchism
1ould then cease to exist. Over pro-
uctions would then be one Of the things
( the past. The argument OF supply
nd demand would then be at an end
8 there would then be something to
reate demand and the demand would